Hikari no Departure
by Alchemaximise
Summary: Light's Departure. Sometimes, you have to pay the ultimate price for those you swore to protect. "The light that once shone so brightly, has now returned to darkness for rest." - One-shot -


**Hikari no Departure**

Disclaimer: Do I _really_ have to tell you that I don't own Naruto?

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**Naruto's Point of View**

All my life, I have been hated. I have been despised for something I didn't know existed then. For what I don't really understand even now. For having the Kyuubi sealed inside me, I was alone for the longest time. All because the Fourth, my father, risked his life for the village to save said village from destruction by sealing him inside of me.

I could count with one hand the people who cared about me. The Third, Iruka-sensei, and at times, Kakashi-sensei. That was it. I used to hate the Kyuubi for being the reason the village hated me so. I used to hate the Fourth for putting him into me in the first place. I used to ask the Third why my own father would risk his life to doom me to a horrible fate and he used to smile and say, "you will know when you become a Genin."

So I became a Genin to become Hokage at first, then to find out why my father exchanged his life for my fate.

At first, when I was put in Team Seven, I thought that having a team would hold me back from reaching my dreams. At first I questioned the Third's words for the very first and last time. Slowly, I understood.

I begun putting my life at risk for my team. I started protecting those I care with my life. I would die for my team and my friends. I would commit suicide if I could save the village. All because I learnt. I finally understood how my father could sacrifice his life and his son's life just to protect others. So I vowed, I vowed to protect those people I love and care about, even if I had to pay with my life.

And pay with my life I did.

_We, Team Seven, had just became Chuunins and we were on a B-rank mission: to bring back 12 runaway shinobis responsible for the stealing of one of the most important scrolls from Konoha. It wasn't a dangerous enough mission to send out Anbus or Hunter-nins so Tsunade-baachan sent us instead. We were in the middle of a forest and we were outnumbered. As newly-appointed Chunnins, we had the disadvantage of having a lack of experience. The three of us handle 3-4 shinobis each._

_We were doing fine until one of the shinobis, the strongest one, attacked Sasuke with a katana from behind while he was busy. Sakura was wearing out and I myself was a bit worn out. I remembered my vow and I knew that Sasuke wouldn't be able to dodge in time what with two shinobis at his side._

_Then, I did something incredibly reckless and stupid. I forced my worn out body and Kyuubi to produce more chakra than I could produce normally without being worn out and there was a huge blast. The three shinobis flew back along with the other shinobis, Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke caught himself in time and Sakura fell to the ground with a soft thud as she was on land._

I didn't know what happened after that because I fell unconcious after hitting the ground.

The next thing I knew, I was in the hospital. I couldn't hear properly, but I made out crying and words like, "shouldn't be this way... why... that dobe... not fair... sorry..."

They didn't make sense to me, but Tsunade-baachan held my hand and explained my condition to me. Funny how her voice shook as she spoke. Apparently, I was dying due to the damage the sudden burst of chakra caused. My body was beyond repair and my only option was death. That was just fine with me, because my team was still alive. I exchanged my life for theirs, just like the Fourth had exchanged his for the village's. I didn't break my vow and that was enough for me.

Because that was my way of ninja and it always will be whether I'm dead or alive.

Then I noticed the Leaf-nins of the Rookie Nine, Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei were all there. Several were in tears and the others like Kakashi-sensei, Neji and Sasuke all held indifferent expressions but if you look closer, you could see their sorrow.

Then, unexpectedly, Sakura-chan said, "sorry." The surprise must have shown because she went on while crying, "I'm sorry for the times I'm mean to you. I'm sorry I couldn't protect the team. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me!" I could see everybody in the room agreeing with her. I smiled a sad smile.

"Please don't apologise. Please don't ask for forgiveness. There is nothing to forgive."

Then I went into a coughing fit. The room broke out into hysteria. I smiled another sad smile and fell into another sleep. One I knew that I would not wake up from.

_The light that once shone so brightly, has now returned to darkness for rest._

**End**


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